Closer Look: Exterior

At first glance, I'm completely satisfied with the NZXT Phantom's external appearance. In fact, I'm thoroughly impressed. The clean lines and high-gloss paint job definitely provide for a professional, attractive look. As you can imagine, and as you'll see throughout the review, though, that paint job loved to attract finger printers. It also reflected just about everything around it--not really con in the real world, but a pain to photograph at times!

The image above highlights some of the exterior styling of the Phantom. The front and top panels are composed of plastic, while the sides and rear of the case are metal. A number of metal screens populate the various panels to provide ventilation while helping to keep dust out. Additionally, the entire front bezel has been designed for easy removal to allow for the installation of a 140mm front fan (not included).

The absence of the front fan shouldn't affect most builds and probably helps keep the cost down a bit. Instead, two 120mm fans attached to the front portion of the side panel take on the task of pushing fresh air into the case. Turning our attention to the side of the case, we can see these fans in a bit more detail.

In addition to the two 120mm fans built into the side panel, NZXT provides Phantom users with the option of mounting a 200mm or 230mm fan on the side of the case. It's positioned to provide fresh air directly to the graphics card(s). As you'll see a bit later on when we open the case up, wiring for this side fan is already included and routed to the fan controller.

The rear view of the Phantom reveals yet another fan. The 120mm rear fan, like all of the others, comes prewired to the integrated fan controller. Also worth pointing out here are the four watercooling pass-throughs built into the back panel. Watercooling appears to have been top priority for NZXT, not just here on the outside, but also on the inside, where it counts--more on this later.

Actually Iooked at a HAF-X in San Jose and it looks as though it might be better (for me) than the FT02. 9 slots! But I really like the FT02, and it looks as if the slot layout of the ASUS Rampage Extreme III _or_ the P6T6 WS Revolution or Supercomputer would work well with it.

#This is case I am looking for - this review make me one more word DEFINITELY —
mgph2010-08-12 21:37

Hey Olin, once again thanks for the detailed review and this is the case that I am looking for once I get decided for graphics card. Now I am using NZXT Tempest Evo which is mid tower casing and a little bit tendius for me to swap in/out hdd or the huge 4870X2 graphics. Your review and score make me more willing to grab this one asap :)

#RE: RE: This is case I am looking for - this review make me one more word DEFINITELY —
Mathew Williams2010-08-14 18:29

Thanks. If you do pick one up, let us know how it works out. The Tempest is a good case, but in my opinion the Phantom is set up a bit better, particularly if you're swapping out HDDs or using a larger graphics card.

Really nicely done case as far as utility goes. I love the side mount drive bays. Still, I think this older case is the best looking I've ever seen, and it's 99% all aluminum.##amazon.com/Cooler-Master-RC-830-KKN2-GP-Stacker-Black/dp/B000P4WH98/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1281690805&sr=1-1

803SE Stacker case. I wish it had the new mounting systems the newer cases have, but it's still very good in that respect and has a cable hiding side also. Mounts 7 120mm or 200mm in the side and three 120mm, back, top, front.

it's such a lovely case.. i think i love it more than my HAF 922.. the price is also not that expensive though a little bit more expensive than my current case.. looking forward to having it here.. especially the red version..

Looks as if the ATCS 840 is the only all- aluminum full tower that Coller Master still makes. It's surprisingly inexpensive, too, at $169.99 at Newegg...way cheaper than the insane $500 Amazon wants for the out-of-production Stacker 830.

I know, it's quite sad. Perhaps it cost a bundle to have a designer do a case, like the 830 series. I still think the 830 is the best looking case ever made. It's also pretty much equal, in cooling, to an open bench, since the entire thing is shrouded in aluminum mesh. It's not a bad case internally, but the new stuff designers are coming out with are just better now. I wish CM would bring back the 830 but update all of its internals. Again, the internals are still pretty damn good. The door on that thing is made from solid 1/4" aluminum. LOL

Hi,I just helped a friend install some new fans...(1) 200mm on the top and when I went to install the second one on the side panel the fan is hitting the liquid cooler. Has anyone else had this problem??? If so are there any ideas on how go work around it besides pulling off the 120mm attached to the rad. Any help would be great!!!